


oh-six-hundred-hours

by TheMalhamBird



Series: MalhamBird's Cabinet of Curiosities (fic of 500 words or less) [2]
Category: 14th Century CE RPF
Genre: Alcohol, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:15:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23429806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMalhamBird/pseuds/TheMalhamBird
Summary: King Richard finds a reminder of his past, and then the Duke of Aumerle finds the King getting determinedly drunk. It's only six in the morning.
Relationships: Edward 2nd Duke of York | Duke of Aumerle/Richard II of England
Series: MalhamBird's Cabinet of Curiosities (fic of 500 words or less) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1685425
Kudos: 5





	oh-six-hundred-hours

**Author's Note:**

> I am starting to transfer the fics and snippets from my Tumblr account across to Ao3 so that they’re findable. The fic below is one of them and may have been written at any point between 01/04/2020 and sometime during 2018…

Aumerle woke to find the bed Richard-less. Not only was the space next to him empty, it was stone cold. Aumerle struggled to sit up, rubbing sand from his eyes with the heels of his palm, and clambered from the bed. The clock on the mantelpiece- face just visible through the gloom- read a little before six. Aumerle sighed, ran a hand through his messy hair, and walked into Richard’s solar. “Your Majesty?” he yawned. “Are you-” he stopped short at the sight of the King of England curled in a chair and taking swigs straight from a bottle. “It’s six o’clock in the morning, you are not having wine so early.”  
“Am, actually.” Richard said. His speech was slurred slightly. Aumerle’s lips thinned and he strode over to the king. He grabbed Richard’s wrist as he went to take another swig.   
“May I ask why, Your Majesty?” he asked, taking the bottle from Richard’s grasp and setting it aside. It was virtually empty. Richard glared and moved to reach for it; Aumerle prevented it by sitting on his lap and winding his arms around Richard’ s neck. Richard sighed and let his head tip forward, resting it against Edward’s heart.   
“love you,” he slurred, wrapping his arms around Edward.   
“I know, your majesty.”  
“Found a letter in a book. Robert’s.” Aumerle tightened his grip around Richard’s neck, suddenly understanding the desire for alcohol. It always felt mean of him to feel jealous of a dead man, but he’d never quite been able to shake the feeling that if de Vere hadn’t died, Richard wouldn’t have looked at him twice. “Miss him sometimes,” Richard mumbled, “Scared they’ll hurt you, too. Don’t want to lose you Ned. Not ever. Please don’t leave me.”  
“I’m not going anywhere,” Aumerle promised, insecurity vanishing as quickly as it had flared up.   
“Mmmmph.” Richard said. They sat together for a while, then Richard said: “I feel sick.”  
“If your majesty will drink a bottle of spiced wine on an empty stomach…” Aumerle chided.   
“One and half…” Richard muttered, and Aumerle glanced to the desk, noting for the first time the bottle lying on its side there.  
“Right,” he said, standing up. “Let’s get you back in to bed. I’ll send for something to eat.”  
“Don’t want-”  
“Tough,” said Aumerle, unsympathetically, helping the king to his feet. Richard swayed violently, and Aumerle caught him round the waist. He led the drunken King back to the bedroom and settled him back in to the bed. “Your Majesty will need to sober up.” He placed a kiss on Richard’s forehead. “I’ll be back in just a moment.”


End file.
